Characteristics and outcomes of atrial fibrillation patients with or without specific symptoms – results from the PREFER in AF registry
Ameet Bakhai,Harald Darius,Raffaele De Caterina,Angela Smart,Jean-Yves Le Heuzey,Richard J. Schilling,José Luis Zamorano,Mit Shah,Peter Bramlage,Paulus Kirchhof +9 more
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TLDR
The question of whether screening programmes to detect people with asymptomatic AF are worthwhile is revived, particularly in those aged 65 and over potentially likely to have clinical and economic benefits from anticoagulants.Abstract:
Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common condition that is a major cause of stroke. A significant proportion of patients with AF are not classically symptomatic at diagnosis or soon after diagnosis. There is little information comparing their characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of patients with symptoms, which predominate in clinical trials to those without.
Methods We analysed data from the Prevention of Thromboembolic Events – European Registry in Atrial Fibrillation (PREFER in AF). This was a prospective, real-world registry with a 12-month follow-up that included AF patients aged 18 years and over. Patients were divided into those with and without AF symptoms using the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) score (category I vs. categories II – IV).
Results Of the 6,196 patients (mean age 72 years) with EHRA scores available, 501 (8.1%) were asymptomatic. A lower proportion of asymptomatic patients was female (22.8% vs. 41.2%), with less noted to have heart failure and coronary artery disease (p<0.01 for all). There were no differences in terms of the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, or prior stroke. Asymptomatic patients had a lower CHA2DS2-VASc score (2.9±1.7 vs. 3.4±1.8; p<0.01) and HAS-BLED score (1.8±1.1 vs. 2.1±1.2; p<0.01). During the one-year follow-up, adverse events occurred at similar frequencies in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients (1.6% vs. 0.8% for ischemic stroke; p=0.061; 1.4% vs. 1.3% for transient ischaemic attack; p=0.840). Patients with higher CHA2DS2-VASc and HAS-BLED scores experienced more events, independent of symptoms. Antithrombotic therapy was comparable for both groups at baseline and at follow-up.
Conclusions The similar clinical characteristics and frequency of adverse events between asymptomatic and symptomatic AF patients revives the question of whether screening programmes to detect people with asymptomatic AF are worthwhile, particularly in those aged 65 and over potentially likely to have clinical and economic benefits from anticoagulants. This evidence may be informative if clinicians may not be comfortable participating in future clinical trials, leaving asymptomatic patients with AF and high stroke risk without anticoagulation.read more
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2020 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS).
Gerhard Hindricks,Tatjana S. Potpara,Nikolaos Dagres,Elena Arbelo,Jeroen J. Bax,Carina Blomström-Lundqvist,Giuseppe Boriani,Manuel Castellá,Gheorghe Andrei Dan,Polychronis Dilaveris,Laurent Fauchier,Gerasimos Filippatos,Jonathan M. Kalman,Jonathan M. Kalman,Mark La Meir,Deirdre A. Lane,Jean-Pierre Lebeau,Maddalena Lettino,G. Y. H. Lip,Fausto J. Pinto,G. Neil Thomas,Marco Valgimigli,Isabelle C. Van Gelder,Isabelle C. Van Gelder,Bart P. Van Putte,Caroline L Watkins +25 more
TL;DR: The content of these European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines has been published for personal and educational use only and no commercial use is authorized.
Journal ArticleDOI
Integrated Care Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Cardiovascular Events: The ABC (Atrial fibrillation Better Care) Pathway in the ATHERO-AF Study Cohort.
Daniele Pastori,Daniele Pastori,Pasquale Pignatelli,Danilo Menichelli,Francesco Violi,Gregory Y.H. Lip,Gregory Y.H. Lip +6 more
TL;DR: Integrated care management according to the ABC pathway resulted in a significantly lower rate of CVEs, suggesting a clear benefit of a holistic approach to optimize the management of patients with AF.
Journal ArticleDOI
Clinical Overview of Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus as Risk Factors for Atrial Fibrillation and Sudden Cardiac Death
TL;DR: Clinical data suggest that left atrial size, epicardial fat pad thickness, and other modifiable risk factors such as hypertension, glycemic control, and obstructive sleep apnea may mediate the association with AF.
Journal ArticleDOI
Clinical Outcomes in Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Atrial Fibrillation Presentations in GARFIELD-AF: Implications for AF Screening.
Harry Gibbs,Ben Freedman,Mårten Rosenqvist,Saverio Virdone,Wael Al Mahmeed,Giuseppe Ambrosio,A. John Camm,Barry F. Jacobson,Carlos Jerjes-Sánchez,Gloria Kayani,Ali Oto,Elizaveta Panchenko,Hany Ragy,Ajay K. Kakkar +13 more
TL;DR: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the Field-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is a global, prospective, observational study of newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation with ≥ 1 stroke risk factors ( http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, unique identifier: NCT01090362) as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Subclinical and Asymptomatic Atrial Fibrillation: Current Evidence and Unsolved Questions in Clinical Practice.
Andrea Ballatore,Mario Matta,Andrea Saglietto,Paolo Desalvo,Pier Paolo Bocchino,Fiorenzo Gaita,Gaetano M. De Ferrari,Matteo Anselmino +7 more
TL;DR: Current evidence regarding the treatment specifically of subclinical and asymptomatic AF is summarized, potential benefits of rhythm control therapy are discussed, and unclear areas are highlighted to highlight unclear areas.
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2012 focused update of the ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation: An update of the 2010 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation * Developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association
A. John Camm,Jeroen J. Bax,Robert Fagard,Christian Funck-Brentano,David Hasdai,Theresa McDonagh,Bogdan A. Popescu,Udo Sechtem,Stephan Windecker,Ottavio Alfieri,Annalisa Angelini,Andreas Goette,Robert Hatala,Philippe Kolh,Piotr Ponikowski,Frans H. Rutten,Isabelle C. Van Gelder +16 more
TL;DR: An update of the 2010 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association is developed.
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2012 focused update of the ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation
A. John Camm,Gregory Lip,Raffaele De Caterina,Irene Savelieva,Dan Atar,Stefan H. Hohnloser,Gerhard Hindricks,Paulus Kirchhof,Jeroen J. Bax,Helmut Baumgartner,Claudio Ceconi,Veronica Dean,Christi Deaton,Robert Fagard,Christian Funck-Brentano,David Hasdai,Arno W. Hoes,Juhani Knuuti,Philippe Kolh,Theresa McDonagh,Cyril Moulin,Bogdan A. Popescu,Željko Reiner,Udo Sechtem,Per Anton Sirnes,Michal Tendera,Adam Torbicki,Alec Vahanian,Stephan Windecker,Panos Vardas,Nawwar Al-Attar,Ottavio Alfieri,Annalisa Angelini,Carina Blomström-Lundqvist,Paolo Colonna,Johan De Sutter,Sabine Ernst,Andreas Goette,Bulent Gorenek,Robert Hatala,Hein Heidbuchel,Magnus Heldal,Steen Dalby Kristensen,Jean-Yves Le Heuzey,Hercules Mavrakis,Lluís Mont,Pasquale Perrone Filardi,Piotr Ponikowski,Bernard Prendergast,Frans H. Rutten,Ulrich Schotten,Isabelle C. Van Gelder,Freek W.A. Verheugt +52 more
TL;DR: A prospective, randomized, double blind, Active-controlled, superiority study of Vernakalant vs. amiodarone in Recent Onset atrial fibrillation for the prevention of cardiovascular Hospitalization or death from any cause.
Journal ArticleDOI
A population-based study of the long-term risks associated with atrial fibrillation: 20-year follow-up of the Renfrew/Paisley study.
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of atrial fibrillation on long-term morbidity and mortality was described, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to adjust for age and cardiovascular conditions.
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